Cher Defends Son Chaz Over DWTS Decision

The legendary diva praises transgender son's "courage"

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Chaz Bono is the child of Cher and Sonny Bono. He underwent a gender transition at age 39.

Updated at 9:20 AM CST on Thursday, Sep 1, 2011

Cher has got a word for Chaz Bono's haters.

The veteran diva quickly defended her son after loads of anonymous commenters scourged the internet to diss "Dancing with the Stars" for casting their first transgender contestant.

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"Lovelies!" Cher wrote on Twitter. "Chaz is Being Viciously Attacked on Blogs & Message boards about begin on DWTS! This is Still America right ? It took guts to do it."

Cher continued to slam her baby's critics while praising Chaz's decision perform in the 13th season of ABC's high-rated dancing competition.

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"I support him no matter what he chooses 2do! God! will there always be haters! It took COURAGE to do dwts! TG Chaz has an Unlimited supply," she tweeted. "Mothers don't stop Getting angry with stupid bigots who f--- with their children."

Singing duo Sonny Bono and Cher's only son underwent a female-to-male gender transition at age 39, changing his name from Chastity Sun Bono to Chaz Salvatore Bono. The BBC reported back in 2010 that Cher promised to support her child on his "difficult journey" and promised to "strive to be understanding."

According to Bono, now 41, his momma still continues to shower him with support.

"She really thought it was great that I was doing [the show] and wanted to know how I was feeling about it, if I was nervous and how it was going," Bono told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show, People reports.

ABC announced Bono would be paired up with Lacey Schwimmer for their new season, premiering Sept. 19. The 23-year-old professional dancer has also coached celebrities Lance Bass, Steve-O, Mark Dacascos, Kyle Massey and Mike Catherwood for the show, according to Us Magazine.